Maintenance of aircraft, spacecraft, ships, and other machines can be complicated as the maintenance crew has to diagnose which parts need to be fixed or replaced. In the airline industry for example, a maintenance crew may inspect an aircraft on the flight line periodically or responsive to a particular warning or alarm. If a problem is identified, then the maintenance crew has to decide which parts to replace on the aircraft. Aircraft manufacturers design certain parts as Line-Replaceable Units (LRUs), which are modular parts or components that are designed to be replaced quickly at an operating location. LRUs can be stocked at an airport and installed on an aircraft while the aircraft is on the flight line, instead of having to move the aircraft to a maintenance facility. Although LRUs are designed to be replaced on the flight line, the maintenance crew still has to determine which LRUs to replace on an aircraft.
Presently, a maintenance crew may attempt to troubleshoot the problem within the time the aircraft is parked at the gate as to which LRU(s) to replace on the aircraft. The maintenance crew may alternatively replace multiple implicated LRUs on the aircraft (also referred to as “shot-gunning”) because of lack of time or inability to correctly diagnose the problem, even though some of the components may be serviceable for their intended purpose. These methods used for maintenance on aircraft and other machines are inefficient and can increase maintenance costs.
In order to assist the maintenance crew in servicing an aircraft, diagnostics systems have been developed to help diagnose problems on the aircraft. These diagnostic systems analyze symptoms on an aircraft, and provide information to a maintenance crew as to what actions to take in repairing the aircraft.
Because of the importance of maintaining the proper operation of aircraft and other machines, it remains an issue for maintenance crews to diagnose suspect parts, and replace the suspect parts if they are no longer operative.